Pistons win opener against 76ers, 98-87

Sacramento was strong from the start in beating the Mavs.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Detroit Pistons are starting the postseason exactly as they did last year. They're hoping for a better ending this season.
Richard Hamilton scored 25 points and Chauncey Billups had 24 before leaving the game with a sprained ankle as top-seeded Detroit beat the fourth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers 98-87 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Last year, the Pistons were pushed to a final game in the first round against Toronto. Then, they won Game 1 against Boston in the conference semifinals before being eliminated with four straight losses.
This season, Detroit beat Orlando in Game 7 after trailing 3-1.
"We can't get excited, because we still have to defend against what happened last year," said Detroit's Ben Wallace, who had 12 rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
Detroit's flop in the same situation last year and Billups' injury concerned the Pistons as much as their win over Philadelphia excited them.
Billups has scored 101 points in his past three games.
"Chauncey is a big asset to our team," Hamilton said. "I just got done talking to him in the training room, and said, 'Please tell me you'll be all right for Game 2.' Hopefully he'll be back."
Game 2 is Thursday night at The Palace. Pistons coach Rick Carlisle said he may not know until gameday whether Billups will play.
Kings 124, Mavericks 113
DALLAS -- Chris Webber dribbled to the basket, missed, grabbed the rebound and put back a layup. It was that easy.
Then came a stretch of five baskets, one for each Sacramento starter.
The Western Conference semifinals were only six minutes old and the Kings were already in high gear.
Webber scored 13 of his 24 in the first quarter, helping Sacramento go up by 12 at halftime.
The Kings led by 20 early in third and eventually 28 in Game 1 of their second-round series.
"They put on a clinic," Dallas guard Steve Nash said. "They were extremely focused and got whatever they wanted."
Webber certainly did.
After backing down Eduardo Najera on Sacramento's first possession, Webber capped a 15-2 run by dunking over Shawn Bradley. That made the Kings 9-for-14 and they seemed to be only warming up. So much for the notion they'd be rusty after a six-day layoff.
Webber's early burst ended when he faked his way past Bradley near the foul line and made an uncontested dunk, putting Sacramento up 13. Webber and Stojakovic sat the first 5:08 of the second quarter, but the Kings still stretched their lead to 14.
Thing of beauty
"We knew exactly what we needed to do," said center Vlade Divac, who had 14 points in 15 minutes. "It was beautiful."
Webber wasn't impressed.
"We made some mistakes tonight," he said. "We can play even better."
The Kings shot 55 percent, going 9-for-21 on 3-pointers. Peja Stojakovic had 26 points and nine rebounds and Bobby Jackson, the NBA's top sixth man, scored 23. Webber added nine assists and six rebounds.